North Bali Airport: Landing Delayed or Aborted?

Plans for a North Bali Airport Awaiting Recommendation from Local Government and Sufficient Land Needed to Build an Airport

Click Image to Enlarge

(11/30/2012)

Once the subject of much anticipation, the idea of building an airport in North Bali remains stuck in suspended animation, with little official word to indicate a new air gateway for Bali is on a near time horizon.

Beritabali.com says that the contract for an Indian group tasked to prepare a feasibility study for a North Bali Airport has come to an end.

The director general of Air Transportation, Herry Bhakti S. Gamay, speaking at the 34th meeting of Senior Air Transportation Officials in Nusa Dua, Bali confirmed that the subject feasibility study is now in hand, but a review of the financial viability of the project prevents any public announcement of the next step. Gamay outlined that the next step is for regional government to propose the project to the central government.
“(They) have to be proactive, it depends on a recommendation from the region. We in the central government distribute (funds), if you want more the region must begin with a recommendation,” he explained.

Bhakti said that whole the feasibility study remains inconclusive; any plans to build a North Bali Airport must also overcome the fundamental problem of securing sufficient land for such a project. It has been estimated that an international airport with two runways would require a minimum area of 160 hectare to construct.